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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | DownloadInternational Standard Bible Encyclopedia: Abomination
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a-bom-i-nā´shun (פּגּוּלpigguÌ„l, תּועבה, tō‛eÌ„bhaÌ„h, ש×קץ, shekÌ£ec (ש×קּוּץ, shikÌ£kÌ£uÌ„c)): three distinct Hebrew words are rendered in the English Bible by “abomination,†or “abominable thing,†referring (except in ; ) to things or practices abhorrent to Yahweh, and opposed to the ritual or moral requirements of His religion. It would be well if these words could be distinguished in translation, as they denote different degrees of abhorrence or loathsomeness.
The word most used for this idea by the Hebrews and indicating the highest degree of abomination is תּועבה, tō‛ēbhāh, meaning primarily that which offends the religious sense of a people. When it is said, for example, “The Egyptians might not eat bread with the Hebrews; for that is an abomination unto the Egyptians,†this is the word used; the significance being that the Hebrews were repugnant to the Egyptians as foreigners, as of an inferior caste, and especially as shepherds ().
The feeling of the Egyptians for the Greeks was likewise one of repugnance. Herodotus (ii.41) says the Egyptians would not kiss a Greek on the mouth, or use his dish, or taste meat cut with the knife of a Greek.
Among the objects described in the Old Testament as “abominations†in this sense are heathen gods, such as Ashtoreth (Astarte), Chemosh, Milcom, the “abominations†of the Zidonians (Phoenicians), Moabites, and Ammonites, respectively (), and everything connected with the worship of such gods. When Pharaoh, remonstrating against the departure of the children of Israel, exhorted them to offer sacrifices to their God in Egypt, Moses said: “Shall we sacrifice the abomination of the Egyptians (i.e. the animals worshipped by them which were taboo, tō‛ēbhāh, to the Israelites) before their eyes, and will they not stone us?†().
It is to be noted that, not only the heathen idol itself, but anything offered to or associated with the idol, all the paraphernalia of the forbidden cult, was called an “abomination,†for it “is an abomination to Yahweh thy God†(, ). The Deuteronomic writer here adds, in terms quite significant of the point of view and the spirit of the whole law: 'Neither shalt thou bring an abomination into thy house and thus become a thing set apart (ḥērem = tabooed) like unto it; thou shalt utterly detest it and utterly abhor it, for it is a thing set apart' (tabooed). Tō‛ēbhāh is even used as synonymous with “idol†or heathen deity, as in ; ; ; and especially .
Everything akin to magic or divination is likewise an abomination tō‛ēbhāh; as are sexual transgressions (; ; ), especially incest and other unnatural offenses: “For all these abominations have the men of the land done, that were before you†(; compare ). It is to be noted, however, that the word takes on in the later usage a higher ethical and spiritual meaning: as where “divers measures, a great and a small,†are forbidden (-16); and in Proverbs where “lying lips†(), “the proud in heart†(), “the way of the wicked†(), “evil devices†(), and “he that justifieth the wicked, and he that condemneth the righteous†(), are said to be an abomination in God's sight. At last prophet and sage are found to unite in declaring that any sacrifice, however free from physical blemish, if offered without purity of motive, is an abomination: 'Bring no more an oblation of falsehood - an incense of abomination it is to me' (; compare ). “The sacrifice of the wicked†and the prayer of him “that turneth away his ear from hearing the law,†are equally an abomination (see ; ; ).
Another word rendered “abomination†in the King James Version is ש×קץ, shekÌ£ec or ש×קּוּץ, shikÌ£kÌ£ucÌŒ. It expresses generally a somewhat less degree of horror or religious aversion than tō‛eÌ„bhaÌ„h, but sometimes seems to stand about on a level with it in meaning. In , for example, we have the command, “Thou shalt not eat any abominable thing,†as introductory to the laws prohibiting the use of the unclean animals (see CLEAN AND UNCLEAN ANIMALS), and the word there used is tō‛eÌ„bhaÌ„hÌŒ. But in -13, , , , ; ; and in shekÌ£ec is the word used and likewise applied to the prohibited animals; as also in shekÌ£ec is used when it is commanded, “Ye shall not make yourselves abominable.†Then shekÌ£ec is often used parallel to or together with tō‛eÌ„bhaÌ„h of that which should be held as detestable, as for instance, of idols and idolatrous practices (see especially ; ; ; ; ; -21; , ). It is used exactly as tō‛eÌ„bhaÌ„h is used as applied to Milcom, the god of the Ammonites, which is spoken of as the detestable thing shekÌ£ec of the Ammonites (). Still even in such cases to'ebhah seems to be the stronger word and to express that which is in the highest degree abhorrent.
The other word used to express a somewhat kindred idea of abhorrence and translated “abomination†in the King James Version is פגול, pigguÌ„l; but it is used in the Hebrew Bible only of sacrificial flesh that has become stale, putrid, tainted (see ; ; ; ). Driver maintains that it occurs only as a “technical term for such state sacrificial flesh as has not been eaten within the prescribed time,†and, accordingly, he would everywhere render it specifically “refuse meat.†Compare lehÌ£em meghoÌ„'aÌ„l, “the loathsome bread†(from gaÌ„'al, “to loatheâ€) . A chief interest in the subject for Christians grows out of the use of the term in the expression “abomination of desolation†( and ), which see. See also ABHOR.
Literature
Commentators at the place Rabbinical literature in point. Driver; Weiss; Gratz, Gesch. der Juden, IV, note 15.